FOX News Does a 17-minute About Face

On Monday December 17th, Special Report anchor Brit Hume repeated a story that first appeared in the ultra-conservative New York Sun. The four-page article claimed that there was a lack of outrage at Princeton University following an incident in which Mormon student Francisco Nava was beaten while leading a morality movement protest. Hume noted that the assault occurred several days after threatening emails had been sent to conservative Christians on campus. At first glance, this seemed to be just another in a long line of FOX attacks on the "liberal bias" at "left-wing universities." With video.

However, seventeen minutes after his initial story, Hume was forced to issue a retraction.

It seems that Francisco Nava had invented the whole story and, additionally, was the person responsible for the threatening messages.

Brit Hume decided to air the original story in spite of the fact that the police would not confirm or deny the story when called by FOX.

For its part, the New York Sun issued a half-page update, somewhat less that the four-pages they originally devoted to the story.